+1 (800) 653-0017
hello@canterburypilgrimages.com
Yes, and here is how it works
Where the complimentary place comes from, what it covers, and what it means for the priest or parish staff organizing the trip.
Yes. The person who organizes a pilgrimage travels at no cost. It does not come out of your pocket or your parish budget, and it is not a discount you have to negotiate for. Complimentary places come from the airlines, hotels, and coach operators we book on your group’s behalf, which is long standing practice in group travel.
Here is where those places come from and what yours includes.
Group travel is booked differently from individual travel. When we contract a block of air seats, hotel rooms, and coach space for a group, our suppliers allow a number of complimentary places alongside the paying ones. Airlines provide them on group air contracts, hotels on group room blocks, and the same applies to coach operators and many of the services we arrange on the ground.
That allowance is why your place costs nothing. You still earn it, by the size of the group you bring, but it comes from the suppliers rather than from anything added to what your pilgrims pay.
Because the allowance follows the size of the booking, a larger group earns more complimentary places. A small group may earn one. A larger parish group can earn several, which is how a chaplain, a musician, or a co-leader often travels at no cost alongside you.
The number of complimentary places available on your pilgrimage is confirmed in your proposal, so you know exactly where you stand before you announce anything to your parish. If you need more places than your group earns, tell your account executive early and we will look at what is possible.
Your place includes the same land package every pilgrim receives, on a double occupancy basis, along with group airfare on the same itinerary as your group.
A few practical details worth knowing:
Chaplains are given single rooms. A priest traveling as chaplain is working, hearing confessions, and keeping his own prayer, and a shared room does not serve that.
Business class is priced separately. Some leaders fly business, and it can be arranged, but the cost varies enough by route and season that we price it per trip rather than pretending there is a standard figure.
Personal expenses stay personal. Souvenirs, meals outside the group program, and anything else you choose on your own are yours, exactly as they are for every pilgrim.
You earn it. Organizing a pilgrimage is real work, and leading one is more work still. You are recruiting your parish, answering questions for a year, and then spending the trip itself on duty rather than on vacation. Priests come home from pilgrimages having heard confessions in a hotel lobby at midnight and having celebrated Mass at an altar their parishioners will remember for the rest of their lives.
The complimentary place exists so that the person doing that work is not paying for the privilege as well. We would rather you spend your energy on your people than on whether you can afford to be there.
Because the supplier allowance follows the size of the booking, a smaller group earns fewer complimentary places. We will tell you where you stand early rather than late, and if the numbers are not landing where you hoped we will look at the options with you.
What will not happen is you being left exposed. It costs nothing to lead a pilgrimage with Canterbury. There is no deposit, no minimum you personally guarantee, and no financial risk to you if the group does not come together the way you hoped.
That is worth stating clearly, because it is the fear that keeps most priests from ever starting. See what happens if a pilgrimage does not fill. The surer way to earn more places is to fill the group, and that comes down to promotion. See how to promote a parish pilgrimage.
Often, yes. If your group earns two complimentary places, both of you can travel at no cost, and couples make effective co-leaders because they recruit through two networks instead of one. If only one place is available, the second traveler pays the standard rate.
This comes up most often when a leader wants to bring a second priest or a deacon as spiritual support. Talk to your account manager. It is usually workable.
No. Your place comes from the allowances our suppliers provide on group bookings, not from an increase in what your pilgrims pay.
Yes. A single supplement or a room upgrade can be added to your complimentary place at the same rate any pilgrim would pay.
If you are weighing whether to lead a pilgrimage, the finances are the part you can stop worrying about. Tell us what you have in mind and we will show you the numbers before you commit to anything. For the full picture of what leading a pilgrimage involves, see our guide to leading a pilgrimage.
